The Dull Stare of the Dairy Cow

June 15, 2010: 08:51 (pacific standard time)
Location: Portland International Airport

First, a confession: I don’t typically enjoy other people’s travel blogs. I think the reasons are compound, namely:

1. I’m jealous. There I said it
2. Uh…. Well, mostly reason 1.

I guess I could complain that its boring and monotonous to read about how my friends went to an exotic locale, ate “this,” saw “that,” had a “great time” etc, but the simple fact is pretty much just jealousy. So why would I write a blog while traveling in China for the next three weeks?

Maybe just to try and make you jealous!

First a little background. To finish my MBA I still need 12 elective credits. The program at PSU really believes that international experience is a critical piece of an MBA, so they motivate students to complete some of their course work overseas via the following carrots:

1. 8 credits in two weeks instead of three months.
2. Same price as taking the classes in Portland.

Not a lot of downside, other than time away from the family, and abandoning work in the middle of a high pressure situation that I helped create. (hm. I guess that’s a pretty heavy downside, but I digress).

My itinerary – first a little professional business, visiting a vendor in Lianyungong (6h drive N of Shanghai), then two days in Shanghai (hopefully going to visit the worlds fair), followed by a week in Guangzhou (my first class = “Supply Chains in China”), and a week in Bejing (second class = “marketing in China”).
So here we go.

I’m currently sitting in the Portland airport (may their free wifi be forever blessed) working on my “traveler” face. I like to think of it as the “dull stare of the dairy cow” (phrase courtesy of Gary Larson). It’s a look that says, “don’t worry about me. My soul died on the road a long time ago. Let’s all just go about our business. Four hour delay. No problem. I’m just existing through this.”

I perfected this look on a previous trip, a 27h start to finish odyssey to Ireland on business.

What!? My flight to Vancouver BC is delayed 30 minutes already!! ARRGH!

(sound of soul dying)

And… Traveler face locked in!

See you in China.